Fear holds Dorner target hostage

Husband and wife Los Angeles Police Department officers Phil and Emada Tingirides were part of a press conference about what it was like being on the hit list of former LAPD officer Christopher Dorner at the LAPD Police Administration Building in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday morning. Later in the day the two gave a sit-down interview with Register reporter Tony Saavedra.ARMANDO BROWN, FOR THE REGISTER

Los Angeles Police Department Capt. Phil Tingirides – one of Christopher Dorner's main targets – says he now knows the meaning of fear, the kind that creeps up in your voice, the kind that sends you to the family garage to cry in private.

And that has made him a better servant of the neighborhoods he serves in Watts, says Tingirides, who hunkered down for nearly a week with his family at their home in Irvine – close to where Dorner killed his first two victims.

"It does give a sense of the real fear that the community I serve faces daily," he said Tuesday at a news conference at LAPD headquarters.

By his side – at the conference and in a subsequent interview – was his wife, Emada, 42, a sergeant in the department.

As Dorner rained violence for six days in Southern California, Phil and Emada Tingirides put on a brave face for their six children – ages 10 to 24 – trying to downplay the danger while police officers with guns kept guard outside. After the first day, they kept the television and radio off to keep from scaring the children. But sometimes the news broke through.

"There was such an overwhelming feeling of fear, we were putting on our strong face and watching our kids go through this. That was a very emotional thing to go through," said Phil Tingirides, 54. "I felt the fear of the reality of what he had done and what he could do to our family."

What Dorner is alleged to have done is kill the daughter of his former attorney and her boyfriend on Feb. 3, apparently in retaliation for his 2008 dismissal from the department for making false accusations against a training officer. The morning after Irvine police named him as a suspect, police say, Dorner stepped up his rampage, killing a Riverside police officer, and also killed a San Bernardino County deputy on Feb. 12 in a raging gunfight before dying in a Big Bear cabin set aflame by tear-gas canisters.

In an 11,000-word "manifesto," Dorner threatened violence on the LAPD officials he blamed for his firing. Phil Tingirides was named by Dorner as the chairman of the review board that recommended to the chief that his firing be upheld.

Dorner wrote that Tingirides was friends with his training officer and should have been removed from the three-member Board of Rights for having a conflict of interest. In an interview, Tingirides said that with his 33-year tenure, it's hard to serve on a review panel without knowing someone involved in the proceedings.

The board's conclusion was upheld in Superior Court and in appellate court. LAPD Chief Charlie Beck announced Tuesday that criminal defense attorney Gerald Chaleff, who helped investigate the department's role in the 1992 riots, has been asked to re-examine Dorner's dismissal. Beck said it probably would take several months before the investigation is completed and becomes public.

Phil Tingirides said he invites the scrutiny, "confident that nothing was inappropriate."

"Never, ever, did I think somebody would go to this extent in their rage over the decision that was handed out," Tingirides said.

Emada Tingirides, an African American woman, held herself as proof that there is little if any racism in the LAPD – despite Dorner's claims that the department hasn't changed since the Rodney King days. A veteran of nearly 18 years, Emada Tingirides said, "I know in my heart it's not true."

However, she understands how some people can feel empathy for Dorner. "Everybody's sense of reality is different," she said. "There are going to be people that understand the struggles of Christopher Dorner. ... I don't understand the empathy people have for people who planned out and murdered children. (But) my heart goes out to Christopher Dorner's mother. He's her child."

Emada Tingirides said she first learned of Dorner's threats on Feb. 6, when Irvine named him a suspect in the killings of Monica Quan, 28, and Keith Lawrence, 27. She was driving a patrol vehicle when Phil telephoned.

Husband and wife Los Angeles Police Department officers Phil and Emada Tingirides were part of a press conference about what it was like being on the hit list of former LAPD officer Christopher Dorner at the LAPD Police Administration Building in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday morning. Later in the day the two gave a sit-down interview with Register reporter Tony Saavedra. ARMANDO BROWN, FOR THE REGISTER
Husband and wife Los Angeles Police Department officers Phil and Emada Tingirides conduct a press conference Tuesday about what it was like being on the hit list of former LAPD officer Christopher Dorner at the LAPD Police Administration Building in Los Angeles. ARMANDO BROWN, FOR THE REGISTER
Los Angeles police Chief Charlie Beck conducts a press conference about the recently opened investigation into racism claims made by former LAPD officer Christopher Dorner at the LAPD Police Administration Building in Los Angeles. ARMANDO BROWN, FOR THE REGISTER
Husband and wife Los Angeles Police Department officers Phil and Emada Tingirides, right, finish their press conference about what it was like being on the hit list of former LAPD officer Christopher Dorner. ARMANDO BROWN, FOR THE REGISTER
Husband and wife Los Angeles Police Department officers Phil and Emada Tingirides were part of a press conference about what it was like being on the hit list of former LAPD officer Christopher Dorner at the LAPD Police Administration Building in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday morning. Later in the day the two gave a sit-down interview with Register reporter Tony Saavedra. ARMANDO BROWN, FOR THE REGISTER

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